1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to motor vehicles. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a mechanism for extending the bed of a cargo-carrying vehicle equipped with a tailgate.
2. Discussion
Operators of cargo-carrying vehicles such as pickup trucks often have a need to temporarily increase the amount of cargo space available to them. For example, an operator hauling voluminous materials such as wood chips for landscaping would benefit from an increase in volumetric capacity. Similarly, when items longer than the bed are to be carried, operators would benefit from an increase in bed area. Currently, attempts to haul bulky items often include leaving the tailgate in the lowered or open position.
Hauling cargo with the tailgate in an open position creates a variety of problems. In some cases, additional efforts must be made to secure the cargo within the truck bed. These efforts are time consuming and sometimes ineffective. For example, certain types of cargo such as gravel or sand do not lend themselves to binding or lashing. Accordingly, transporting this type of cargo creates the further difficulty of creating a possible safety hazard when the cargo leaves the hauling vehicle and enters the road.
Existing structures such as the "Tailgate Attachment for Extending the Cargo Space of Vehicles" of U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,639 have been designed for the purpose of extending the cargo space of trucks and other vehicles. However, these devices have certain disadvantages. In some cases, unwieldy structures are temporarily installed into the bed of the vehicle only having to be removed and stored in a separate location when not in use. In other cases, the device interferes with normal day-to-day use of the vehicle when a bed extender is not required. In still other cases, the device fails to provide a storage area capable of preventing small items from falling out of the cargo area during transport.